Telecommunication networks have long been employed to facilitate communication between users who are geographically dispersed. Communication may include transmission of data packets, such as data and voice packets, between a plurality of network devices, such as routers and switches. In today's business environment, a company's network may perform an important role in enabling a company to conduct its business. A company's network may have a plurality of routers and/or switches connected together. In a large company, the number of routers and/or switches may easily grow to a few hundreds. To manage the company's network in order to assure that the network is fully functionally, the information technology (IT) personnel may make sure that each router and/or switch is performing properly.
One conventional method for monitoring the network may include logging onto the network system in order to extract statistical data about the performance of each router and/or switch. A less manual method may include employing monitoring tools to extract the statistical data and to employ an analytical application program to analyze the statistical data. Even so, the statistical data is not readily available and the IT (information technology) personnel may still be required to log onto the network system and/or router/switch in order to access this information.
In addition, the statistical data that IT personnel, such as a technician, may need in order to perform his task of maintaining and monitoring the health of the network system may not always be accessible to the IT personnel. In a typical network environment, certain servers may include highly sensitive information. As a result, not everyone in the IT department may have access to every aspect of the network. As a result, to access the statistical data, authorization may be required.